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Gavin Hamilton's Letters to Charles Townley
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2013
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It is a well-known fact that the Scottish painter Gavin Hamilton was the most active and successful of the band of excavators at work on Italian soil in the second half of the eighteenth century. He was employed by several collectors, notably by Charles Townley, and by Lord Shelburne, and, apart from his work as an artist, he carried on an active business in obtaining concessions of promising spots, and in the restoration and export of the proceeds of his excavations.
Until a recent date, our chief information with respect to Hamilton's diggings was derived from a summary, drawn up by Dallaway, of Hamilton's letters to Townley. The original letters appear to be lost, and Prof. Michaelis was unable to trace them, when he was investigating this subject. Other details, copied by Townley from the letters into his MS. inventories, have thence found their way into the British Museum Marbles, and other works on the Townley sculptures.
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References
page 306 note 1 Anecdotes of the Arts in England, (1800), pp. 364–381.
page 306 note 2 Ancient Marbles in Great Britain, p. 80.
page 306 note 3 Townley's Inventories, referred to below as the 1st and 2nd inventories, are both preserved in the Dept. of Greek and Roman Antiqs. of the Brit. Mus. The first inventory is a rough draft, in a brown paper cover, purchased and presented about 20 years ago, by the late Sir A. W. Franks. It must have been drawn up between 1785 and 1787. The latest date in the body of the document is 1785 (Relief, Heracles and Stag). On the other hand the catalogue does not include the sculptures purchased from the Villa Montalto in 1787, with one exception, the Caryatid, which is interpolated between Nos. 9 (Hecate) and 10 (Fortune). The second inventory, in two small quarto volumes, is dated 1804. Charles Townley died in January, 1805, and this was the official list of the collection as transferred to the Museum; it is signed at the end of the list of each room by Messrs. E. Townley Standisti, J. Planta, the then Principal Librarian, and Taylor Combe. This second list was the only authority available for Taylor Combe, Sir Henry Ellis, and Sir C.T. Newton. A third copy of the catalogue, in folio, shown by the watermark to be not older than 1804, was presented to the Museum by Mr.Perceval, Spencer George, in 1891 (Add. MS. 34,009)Google Scholar. It is independent of the 2nd inventory, but based on the same materials. See The Academy, Feb. 1885, p. 122. There is a fourth draft of a French catalogue, in the Greek and Roman Department, with more ample discussions, but no independent information
page 306 note 4 Academy, 1878, Aug. 10, 17, 24, 31; Sept. 7. Privately reprinted in pamphlet form, Devizes, 1879. Again reprinted with some changes and additions, by me, in an Appendix to the privately printed edition of Michaelis's Catalogue of Ancient Marbles at Lansdowne House (London, 1889),
page 307 note 1 Thomas Astle, the palaeographer (1735–1803) bequeathed his collection of manuscripts to the Marquis of Buckingham, who placed it at Stowe. The whole collection was privately bought by the late Lord Ashburnham, in 1849, and the Stowe section of the Ashburnham library was bought for the British Museum in 1883. The book is inscribed ‘Bibl. T. Astici, 1780.’
page 307 note 2 The room is the library, but the marbles have been changed according to the artist's fancy.
page 307 note 3 In this edition I have not touched the spelling. The punctuation, however, which (as in the letters to Lord Shelburne) consists mainly of commas, has been modified for the convenience of the reader.
page 308 note 1 Cardinal de Polignac died in 1742, and his sculptures are now in the Berlin Museum, but it seems impossible to distinguish those derived from the Pantanello. A certain number, e.g. 357, 359, 371–374 etc. agree in subject with those cited by Wimiefeld, (Villa des Hadrian, p. 161Google Scholar, in Jahrb. des Arch. Inst., Ergänzungsheft, iii.) from Bulgarini, as having been excavated by Lolli in 1724, but I cannot establish their identity.
page 308 note 2 Mus. Marbles, x. pl. 8.
page 308 note 3 For Dominico de Angelis, cf. Winnefeld, , Villa des Hadrian, p. 10Google Scholar.
page 308 note 4 Probably the Hon. Charles Greville. He appears as one of Townley's friends in the group by Zoffany, mentioned above.
page 308 note 5 Visconti, Mus. Pio-Clementino, vii. pl. 34.
page 309 note 1 Dallaway's copy (p. 367) agrees substantially with the present list, except for slight changes in the order.
page 309 note 2 Winnefeld, p. 158; Heibig, Führer, No. 238 etc.
page 309 note 3 Called elsewhere ‘Juba as a Mauritanian.’
page 309 note 4 Winnefeld, p. 159.
page 309 note 5 Visconti, Mus. Pio-Clem. vii. pl. 34.
page 309 note 6 Winnefeld, p. 160; Visconti, Mus. Pio-Clem. vii. pl. 32, Fig. 1
page 310 note 1 Winnefeld, p. 159; Visconti, Mus. Pio-Clem. vi. pl. 48 (the head only. The bust is antique, but does not belong).
page 310 note 2 Dallaway (p. 368) omits the Minerva (see below), the Mercury (which, however, he assigns p. 343 to this site) and the Bacchus.
page 310 note 3 Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain. Lansdowne House, No. 85 [= Lansdowne House, No. 85, and so throughout].
page 310 note 4 Lansdowne House, No. 39.
page 310 note 5 Lansdowne House, No. 70.
page 310 note 6 Lansdowne House, No. 76a.
page 310 note 7 Lansdowne House, no. 76. Mon. dell' Inst. IV. pl. 29.
page 310 note 8 Lansdowne House, No. 64.
page 310 note 9 Lansdowne House, No. 38.
page 310 note 10 This must be the head, Lansdowne House, No. 93, hitherto attributed to Roma Vecchia, on the authority of Dallaway, p. 343.
page 310 note 11 Lansdowne House, No. 88.
page 310 note 12 Appears to be a confusion with No. 64 which in the Shelburne correspondence is called her ‘Antinous in the character of Bacchus,’ or ‘Bacchus.’ The terminal figure (Lansdowne House, No. 91; Clarac. pl. 676, No. 1560) is assigned by Winnefeld (p. 158) to the Pantanello, and this is very possible, but it cannot be described as a ‘head.’
page 310 note 13 Lansdowne House, No. 37.
page 310 note 14 Lansdowne House, No. 62.
page 310 note 15 Lansdowne House, No. 49.
page 310 note 16 Lansdowne House, No. 90.
page 310 note 17 Mr. Tilomas Mansel-Talbot, of Margam.
page 310 note 18 Michaelis, Margam, No. 9.
page 310 note 19 Michaelis, Margam, No. 11.
page 310 note 20 A youth, of the school of Pasiteles. Michaelis, Margam, No. 5.
page 310 note 21 Winnefeld, pp. 160–161, enumerates several ornamental works of the kind, which are engraved in Piranesi's works.
page 310 note 22 General Schuwalow was Grand Chamberlain of the Empress Catharine. The Antinous is now in the Hermitage, which, however, has two heads of Antinous, both ascribed to this site. Dietrichson, , Antinoos, pp. 256–257Google Scholar.
page 311 note 1 Dallaway (p. 370) adds ‘purchased by Mr. L[yde] Browne, now at St. Petersburgh.’ Now at Pawlowsk. Winnefeld, p. 160.
page 311 note 2 Mus. Marbles, ii. pl. 23. This remark, as given by Dallaway (p. 371) has given currency to an erroneous statement that there is an inferior replica also found at the Pantanello, in the Vatican (Ellis, , Townley Gallery, ii. p. 18Google Scholar; Newton, Grœco-Roman Guide, No. 139). See, however, Peteraen, , Roem. Mittheilungen, x. p. 133Google Scholar.
page 311 note 3 To Hamilton's list, lengthy as it is, we must add an Ephesian Artemis (Vise. Mus. Pio-Clem. i. pl. 31), a colossal head of Heracles (Mus. Marbles, i. pl. 12), and numerous other works, assigned with more or less certainty to this site. (Cf. Winnefeld, pp. 158–161).
page 311 note 4 A full summary of the letter is given by Dallaway (p. 371). Hamilton's letter to Lord Shelburne of Jan. 1, 1772, was written while the excavation was in progress (Lansdowne Catalogue, p. 53).
page 311 note 5 It is known that Gallienus had his tomb at this point (Aurelius Victor, Epit. LX.), but there does not seem to be any evidence for the Villa, though the conjecture is approved by Canina, (Annali, 1852, p. 300Google Scholar). The temple of Domitian is placed close to the tomb of Gallienus by Pratilli, (Delia Via Appia, p. 71Google Scholar, Naples, 1745), who may be Hamilton's authority.
page 312 note 1 Hamilton was less explicit in his letter to Lord Shelburne. ‘The head is its own, though wanting part of the neck, as I found it near where I found the statue, as likewise both the hands, though one of them is much corroded,’ etc. Letter of March 4, 1773 (Lansdowne Catalogue, p. 65). Cf. Michaelis, Lansdowne House, No. 63.
page 312 note 2 Hermes, Lansdowne House, No. 65.
page 312 note 3 Michaelis, Marbury Hall, No. 15. This figure is called by Dallaway “Paris Equestris,” and by Clarac (v. pl. 810B, no. 2028c) ‘Amazone,’ but Michaelis points out that the quasi-Phrygian costume occurs only in the restored portion. Hamilton wrote to Lord Shelburne: ‘I hare likewise sold him [Jenkins] a young figure with a Phrygian cap, on horseback, but considering it was so much fragmented, and well knowing what nice judges we are in England in horse flesh, I declined sending it: I may add likewise on account of its small size and difficulty in placing it in the gallery.’ Letter of Aug. 6, 1772, Lansdowne Catalogue, p. 58.
page 312 note 4 James Hugh Smith-Barry, of Marbury Hall.
page 312 note 5 The Discobolos of Naukydes (so-called). Visconti, Mus. Pio-Clem., iii. pl. 26.
page 312 note 6 Serapis. Visconti, Mus. Pio-Clem., vi. pl. 15.
page 312 note 7 Doubtless John Corbet, of Sundorne Castle, Shropshire (ob. 1817). Cf. Murray's Guide to Shropshire. ‘Sundorne Castle … In the drawing-room is a statue of Venus, brought from Rome, for which Nollekens is said to have offered a thousand pounds.’
page 312 note 8 Clarac, iv. pl. 594, no. 1449B; Michaelis, Marbury Hall, No. 6, ‘Elektra.’
page 312 note 9 Lansdowne House, No. 83.
page 313 note 1 ‘I have had a run of bad luck of late, particularly at the Ports of Trajan and Claudius, where I have found nothiug.’ Letter of Feb. 18, 1772, Lansdowne Catalogue, p. 56.
page 313 note 2 i.e., in the Museo Pio-Clementino. For the Victory, cf. Clarac, iv. pl. 636, No. 1442; Helbig, No. 367.
page 313 note 3 In 1772. ‘… the third [Cava] is at Gensano, on the banks of the lake of Nemi. This I hope to conclude before I return to Rome, though it will cost me dear, as the proprietor is a rich man and not ignorant of the value of this spot.’ Letter from Albano of September 30, 1772, Lansdowne Catalogue, p. 61.
‘I have just purchased a spot of land under Gensano, of the Capitolo of St. Peter's, where I hope to bring to light hidden treasures. It is a wood that has never been touched, full of ruins and parts of broken columns of porphyry, &c, &c.’ Letter from Rome of Sept. 12, 1773. Lansdowne Catalogue, p. 69.
page 313 note 4 The two Paniski of Marcus Cossutius Cerdo. One only of the inscriptions describes the sculptor as freedman of Marcus, but there is no reason for supposing that there were two sculptors of the same name. Mus. Marbles, ii, pls. 33, 43.
page 313 note 5 Vase with Bacchanalian reliefs. Mus. Marbles, i, pl. 7.
page 313 note 6 Mus. Marbles, x, vignette.
page 313 note 7 In the Room of Animals at the Vatican (Helbig, i, 161; Reinach, , Répertoire de la Slat., ii, p. 759Google Scholar, Fig. 5).
page 313 note 8 Actaeon and his dogs. (Mus. Marbles, ii. pl. 45). Hamilton only speaks of one group in the contemporary letter to Lord Shelburne (Letter of Jan. 16, 1774, Lansdowne Catalogne, p. 70) On the other hand the summary list (p. 320 below) gives a second Aetaeon as the property of Jenkins, and the third Townley Inventory says that the replica ‘was purchased by Comte de D'Orsi of Normandy.’
page 314 note 1 The two Victories on bulls in the Brit. Mus. Mus. Marbles, x, pls. 25, 26. They are composed to stand against a wall, but can hardly be said to be in relievo.
page 314 note 2 A running greyhound (Massi, No. 169) and a statuette of a dog from this site (Helbig, i, No. 162) are in the Room of Animals at the Vatican. In the letter to Lord Shelburne, Hamilton speaks of a ‘dog scratching his ear, and a bitch in the same attitude.’
page 314 note 3 In Townley's first MS. inventory he states that the Aetaeon was found in the villa of Antoninus in the garden of the Cesarini. This is presumably an error.
page 314 note 4 I cannot certainly identify this head, which is not mentioned in the letter to Lord Shelburne. Compare p. 321: ‘A Meleager with the Petina’ (sic.). Can this be a corruption of Platanus? The term of Heracles, (Mus. Marbles, ii, p. 46Google Scholar) is described as wearing the platanus (Add. MS. 34,009), and the word shows signs of correction. This head is said to have been found in 1776 or 1777 near Genzano, in grounds of the Cesarini.
page 314 note 5 Afterwards (and still?) at Hamilton Palace. Michaelis, Hamilton Palace, No. 9; cf. lotlers of Jan. 16 and May 1, 1774, Lansdowtie Catalogue, pp. 70, 71.
Besides the sculptures here enumerated, Hamilton mentions in his letter to Lord Shelburne, ‘parts of several very fine candelabri, but none as yet perfect … a small figure, a female Satyr playing on the pipe, a comedian [Mr. W. Ellis, cf. p. 320], several young boys, in particular a young Bacchus (Mus. Marbles, xi, pl. 38), and a boy laughing with n bird in his hands [Lord Clive, cf. p. 320], the same as the one at the Villa Borghese, but much finer and more entire.…A cupid.’ Lansdowne Catalogue, p. 70. The first Townley inventory also assigns to this site ‘an eagle, near the size of life,’ which can only be the eagle (Mus. Marbles, x, pl. 58, Fig. 2) said in the second inventory to have been sent ‘from Rome to the late Mr. Beaumont.’ See also p. 320: ‘A boy sitting with a goose…Mr. [Lyde] Brown[e]'s.’
page 314 note 6 The Villa Fonseca, on the Caelian Hill, also gave the seated actor (Mus. Marbles, pl. 43, fig. 1).
page 314 note 7 Lyde Browne's collection was sold to the Empress Catharine II. (Dallaway, p. 389), and the Cupid is now at Pawlowsk (Reinach, , Répertoire, ii, p. 437Google Scholar, Fig. 8).
page 314 note 8 The excavation at Ostia is attributed by Dallaway (p. 376) to 1792, but this is manifestly wrong. Cardinal Serbelloni only held the See of Ostia between April, 1774, and Dec., 1775. This fact shows that the date 1772 proposed by Lord E. Fitzmaurice in correction of Dallaway, (Academy, Aug. 10, 1878, p. 142)Google Scholar is too early, and the year 1771 (also given by Dallaway, p. 354) is still more so. In a third place Dallaway names the year 1778 (p. 342). The correct date is given by Hamilton's letters to Shelburne of May 1, 1774, and April 16, 1775.
page 315 note 1 The records of inscriptions found by Hamilton are very imperfect (cf. C.I.L., xiv, p. 1), and I do not trace the very elegant one of the time of Trajan. Carlo Albagine was a Roman, dealer in marble tables and the like (Lansdowne Catalogue, p. 76)Google Scholar, promoted by Dallaway (p. 377) to the rank of Cardinal. There is extant evidence that the baths were completed by Hadrian, (C.I.L., xiv, 98)Google Scholar, and that they were restored at intervals down to the time of Valens, Gratian, and Valentinian, (C.I.L., xiv, 134Google Scholar, 135, 137).
page 315 note 2 Michaelis, Marbury Hall, No. 20.
page 315 note 3 This is no doubt the Hygieia at Cassel. Roscher, i, p. 2790; Reinach, , Répertoire, ii, p. 298Google Scholar, Fig. 1.
page 315 note 4 Bottari, Mus. Capitolino, iii, pl. 69; Clarac, v, pl. 858A, No. 2212; Helbig, i, No. 443. Hamilton is right in seeing the identity of type, each torso being in fact a fragment of a Myronian Discobolos. The restoration is elsewhere attributed to Monnot.
page 315 note 5 Lansdowne House, No. 89. For the restoration see Clarac, v, pl. 829, Fig. 2085A. Hamilton wrote to Lord Shelburne, with reference to this singular invention, “I have never mentioned to your Lordship one of the finest things I have ever had in my possession, as I was not sure of getting a licence to send it out of Rome. Now that I have got it safe on board the Felucca for Leghorn, I have ventured to recommend it to your Lordship as something singular and uncommon. It is a Diomede carrying off the Palladium…The legs and arms are modern, but restored in perfect harmony with the rest. He holds the Palladium in one hand, while he defends himself with the right holding a dagger. Your Lordship will ask me why I suppose this statue to be a Diomede. I answer because it would be to the last degree absurd to suppose it any thing else, as I believe your Lordship will easily grant when you see it. Every view of it is fine, &c,” Letter of March 25, 1776. Lansdowne Catalogue, p. 77.
page 316 note 1 Mus. Marbles, ii, pl. 22.
page 316 note 2 Visconti, Mus. Pio-Clem., ii. pls. 5–8. Letter to Lord Shelburne of April 16, 1775. Helbig, on what authority I do not know, assigns these groups to the much later excavations of Fagan at Ostia (Führer, i. No. 164). They are duly credited to Hamilton by Fea, , Viaggio ad Ostia (1802), p. 43Google Scholar.
page 316 note 3 The punctuation leaves the destination of the tasty tripod uncertain, and Fea (loc. cit.), states that it went to England. Dallaway's summary here seems to go astray, ‘Four of the Labours of Hercules … are now in the Mus. Pio-Clem., with the elegant Tripod Apollo’ (sic), but I presume the tripod Mus. Pio-Clem., vii. pl. 41, to be the one in question.
page 316 note 4 The ‘Mother of Venus’ is the Townley Venus (Mus. Marbles, i. pl. 8) which, strange as it seems, was not at once identified. Hamilton's interpretation was presumably known to Payne Knight, who calls the figure ‘Venus or Dione’ (Specimens, i. pl. 41). In Townley's inventories it is Libera or Ariadne.
page 316 note 5 Mus. Marbles, iii. pl. 5.
page 316 note 6 Roma Vecchia is now identified with the Villa Quintiliana of Commodus, the scene of the death of Cleander.
page 316 note 7 I.e. the bust (Mus. Marbles, x. pl. 16), dedicated by the Decemviri. The first Townley inventory states that it was found by Gavin Hamilton at Roma Vecchia. The second inventory more cautiously says that it was found ‘in an excavation made near Rome in 1776, the site of which must not as yet be mentioned.’ Hence the conjecture (Mus. Marbles, x. pl. 16, text; Newton, Graeco-Roman Guide, i. No. 22), that it was found in an illicit excavation at Rome.
page 316 note 8 I.e. the bust, dedicated by L. Aemilius Fortunatus (Mus. Marbles, x. pl. 15; Gracco-Roman Guide, i. no. 91). This bust has hitherto been assigned to Genzano, on the authority of the second Townley inventory. The first Townley inventory, however, gives Roma Vecchia, and the letter to Lord Shelburne is conclusive, ‘I must now say something relating to my late excavations at Roma Vecchia, four miles out of the Gate of St. John, where I have found two entire busts, one of a Decemvir, the other of L. Aemilius Fortunatus, as appears from the inscription on the pieduccio.’ Letter of Feb. 9, 1775. Lansdmvne Catalogue, p. 72.
page 317 note l Endymion. Mus. Marbles, xi. pl. 43.
page 317 note 2 Lansdowne House, No. 2.
page 317 note 3 I.e. the Ariadne of the Townley Collection, Mus. Marbles, x. pl. 23. Cf. Dallaway, p. 379, ‘the singularly beautiful Bacchante, once the property of the Honourable Charles Greville, now Mr. Townley.’
page 317 note 1 Mus. Marbles, ii. pl. 12. The Townley inventories assign this relief to Gabii (or Castiglione), but Hamilton's own statement seems to supersede that of Townley (cf. Dallaway, p. 335, from the inventory, and p. 379, from the letter). There is no evidence to think he was at Gabii until 1792. On the other hand there is a curious indication of confusion in the entry as given in Add. MS. 34,009, ‘Found 1775 in ruins near Castilione, the country of the Gabii, five miles from St. John's Gate, on the road to Frascati from Rome,’ that is on the site of Roma Vecchia. This authority also assigns the small Fortuna (Mus. Marbles, ii. pl. 18) to Roma Vecchia.
page 317 note 5 The type appears to be that of the Concordia in the Torlonia Collection (Clarac, iii, pl. 452, no. 828) which is said to have come from Cavaceppi (P. E. Visconti, Museo Torlonia, no. 208). I have not recognised it in the Museo Pio-Clementino.
page 317 note 6 Mus. Marbles, x. pl. 21.
page 318 note 1 Brit. Mus. No. 549.
page 318 note 2 Visconti, Mus. Pio-Clem, vi. pl. 29. According to Visconti (l.c.) the two terminal busts of Pericles were found together at Tivoli. It is unfortunate that Hamilton's own account here fails us.
page 318 note 3 The year has been filled in.
page 318 note 4 Visconti, Mon. Gabini, pl. 17. The inscription runs ‘In honorem memoriae domus Domitiae Augustae Cn. Domiti Corbulonis fil.’ etc.
page 319 note 1 The valuable proceeds of the last excavation, which were described by Visconti (Monumenti Gabini della Villa Pinciana) are now in the Louvre. Visconti (l.c. p. 6) says that Prince Marco Antonio Borghese was moved ‘d'inanimire con nobili condizioni i tentativi che il celebre pittore scozzese sig. Gavino Hamilton, solertissimo ed indefesso cercatore d'antichità, desiderava fare nell'ampio tenitoro, detto appunto dal vichi lago, Pantan de' Griffi, etc.’ This lake or swamp was an old volcanic crater, and has since been drained. The Diana is the well known Diana of Gabii (Visconti, l.c. pl. 12, Fig. 32). For the Agrippa see Visconti, l.c. pl. 3, Figs. 2 and 2a.
page 319 note 2 Or ‘Cincinnatus.’
page 319 note 3 Sic. Perhaps ‘An Isis in Ditto.
page 319 note 4 In the draft Stowe, 1020, no name of an owner is given, but the bust is described as ‘Bad.’ The epithet has been inserted and erased, and the owner's name has been inserted in Stowe, 1019,
page 320 note 1 Thespiae.
page 321 note 1 See p. 314.
page 321 note 2 There was only one vase—see above, p. 309.
page 321 note 3 Lansdowne House, No. 76.
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